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 Engineering and Public Policy

Telecommunications

• Associations, Organizations, and Institutes
• Databases
• Government Resources
• Internet Guides
• Reference Resources

Associations, Organizations, and Institutes

These groups can be a good source of information. For others, you might want to look at Associations on the Net (Internet Public Library), which is a searchable list of over 700 associations, grouped by subject category.

• Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS)
  Brings together experts from the telecommunications industry to resolve standards and operations issues.

• Benton Foundation
  Provides demonstration projects, media production and publishing, research, conferences, and grantmaking toward the goal of identifying the social benefits of the emerging communications environment.

• Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
  A group of institutions with a common agenda to advance the progress of networked information technology especially in the area of scholarly communication.

• International Telecommunications Union
  An organization of governments and private sector members which coordinates global telecom networks and services.

• Internet2
  Consortium led by over 200 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies

• Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
  Trade organization which provides communications and information technology products, materials, systems, etc.

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Government Resources

The United States Government is a good source of data and other types of materials. Below are some of the most useful for environmental issues. To see other government resources, you might want to search:

• FedWorld
  offers ways to search government web sites, reports, and databases
• USA.gov
  the official U.S. gateway to all government information
• Science.gov
  catalog containing descriptions of just those government web sites that are key entry points to government science and technology resources

For statistical information from governmental sources, see:

• Fedstats
  Gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies
• Lexis-Nexis Statistical Universe (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  ca. 1973-present.
  Search citations and abstracts to statistical publications from federal, state, international sources as well as private organizations. See Lexis-Nexis Statistical Universe for an indepth description of coverage.

For legislative information see:

• Lexis-Nexis Congressional Universe (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Congressional publications, current topics of debate, members and committees, full text of proposed and recent bills, laws and regulations, etc.
• Thomas (Library of Congress)
  Legislative information on the internet.

For regulatory information see:

• Lexis-Nexis Congressional Universe (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Search and display full text of
  • Code of Federal Regulations
    1981-present
  • Federal Register
    1980-present
• Code of Regulations (GPO Access)
  1996-present
• Federal Register (GPO Access)
  1994-present.
• Regulations.gov
  Central online rulemaking portal of the United States government. Search by keyword or department or agency.

For gray literature, that is, reports or materials that do not go through normal publication channels, see:

• GrayLit Network: A Science Portal of Technical Reports

Relevant federal departments and agencies include:

• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
  Independent federal agency which encourages competition in communication markets and protects public interest. There are several bureaus in the FCC. Below are three major ones directly related to telecommunications.
  • Media Bureau
    Merger of former Mass Media Bureau and Cable Bureau. Develops, recommends and administers the policy and licensing programs relating to electronic media, including cable television, broadcast television, and radio in the United States.
  • Wireline Competition Bureau
    Administers telephone companies providing local and long distance services.
  • Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
    Handles all FCC domestic wireless telecommunications programs and policies, except those involving satellite communications or broadcasting, including licensing, enforcement, and regulatory functions. Wireless communications services include cellular telephone, paging, personal communications services, public safety, and other commercial and private radio services.

• National Coordination Office for Networking Information Technology Research and Development (NCO/NITRD)
  Supports the planning, budget, and assessment activities for the Federal government's NITRD Program.

• National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Information Technology Laboratory

• U.S. Department of Commerce
  • National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
    Focuses exclusively on telecommunications and information policy
  • Telecommunications

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Internet Guides

• The Virtual Institute of Information (Columbia Institute for Tele-Information)
  Search and link network for telecommunications, cybercommunications, and mass media research.

• WinLab: Wireless Information Network Laboratory (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
  "Advancing the future of wireless communications".

• World Wide Web Virtual Library
  • Analysys: Telecoms Virtual Library

• Yahoo!:
  • Government: Law: Technology: Telecommunications
  • Science: Engineering: Electrical Engineering: Telecommunications: Policy

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Engineering and Public Policy